The idea to organise a two day exhibition in Poland instead of a one day event proved successful and raised interest among UK institutions. As a result we had more applications than we could accommodate. To avoid this situation, we will raise the number places for 2015 Fair to 40.
The exhibition started in Kraków and attracted about 800 visitors, mostly secondary school students interested in undergraduate studies. The seminar room was packed during all presentations, especially the one prepared by the UCAS representative. UCAS took part in Polish fair for the first time and the stand was very popular among the audiences in both cities. Krakow exhibition was organised in the hotel in which most UK representatives stayed. In Warsaw, we were hosted by the National Stadium as last year. Straight after Kraków exhibition all exhibitors travelled to Warsaw by bus. However, the bus transport proved not ideal. The journey took longer than expected and this year, we will arrange transport by train, as originally planned. The change of the means of transport was arranged to avoid long delays which passengers of trains had to endure due to railways renovation works.
The exhibition in Warsaw attracted over 1000 visitors and the seminars also proved very popular among audiences of different age. The majority, like in Kraków, were the secondary school students interested in undergraduate studies but there were also many parents and young professionals. BAS, British Alumni Society, representatives apart from sharing their experiences from UK studies, organised Skype connections with Polish students studying currently at 5 universities. These conversations were very popular.
In both cities the exhibitions were visited by a number of journalists including local TV stations which produced films from both events interviewing visitors, exhibitors and British Council staff.
According to UCAS data the number of Polish students in the UK last year increased by 17%. Hopefully, this year the result will be similar, although some of the exhibitors noted that the age of students visiting the Fairs was lower than they expected and many students plan to come to the UK in a year or two. They start planning their education career path quite early.